North Port principal can keep job, judge rules

After a judge ruled that he would not be banned from his school, besieged Imagine principal Justin Matthews bear hugged his fan base.

“It's OK,” Matthews, 37, assured the group of moms in the hallway Tuesday outside the Sarasota County courtroom. “Everything is going to be all right.”

Circuit Judge Charles Williams denied an emergency injunction aimed at blocking Matthews from Imagine School at North Port's campus.

Matthews and his local board of trustees are fighting for control with Imagine Schools over the North Port school, which is in the top 5 biggest among the Virginia corporation's national chain of charter schools.

Williams said removing Matthews — who has led the school since 2008 — would disrupt class in the middle of the school year, making parents and students “the unintended casualties.”

The ruling came Tuesday as some Imagine students were in the middle of the FCAT.

“I'm just overjoyed,” said Christine Deveney, a North Port parent with a fourth-grader and ninth-grader at the school, who sat behind Matthews during the hearing.

The judge also pushed the Sarasota County School District — which has yet to intervene in the legal dispute — to take action administratively or through the courts to make the school more stable.

Imagine Schools has accused Matthews and the school's governing board of hijacking the operation after the board voted Feb. 15 to fire the parent company. The board operated outside Florida's Sunshine Laws by not placing the issue on the meeting agenda beforehand, attorneys said.

“He's trying to steal a school,” said attorney Shawn Arnold in his closing arguments during a packed three-hour hearing attended by parents, students and Imagine corporate officials.

But Imagine Schools is more concerned about removing the local board and replacing it so that the nonprofit can receive its annual management fees again, argued attorney Salvatore Scro, who represents Matthews.

“It is about money,” Scro said.

As for what happens next, Imagine attorneys said they would need to talk with their client. The corporation already has sued Matthews and the local board for more than $15,000 in a nine-count complaint filed in circuit court. The charges include defamation and breach of contract.

Arnold said not getting the emergency injunction “doesn't mean” the court has ruled on the merits of the suit's charges.

Conflicting views

Tuesday's hearing did little to untangle the contradictions in how the two sides are describing the situation.

During the court hearing, board president Barbara McKeathon testified that Sarasota Preparatory School — what schools officials say is the new name for Imagine School at North Port — “didn't exist.”

“It's a name we use so we can use email,” McKeathon said.

The school was still a part of Imagine Schools, though the local board was tired of paying its annual fee, she said.

“That's preposterous,” said Arnold, the national company's attorney.

The two sides also did not reach consensus on who is actually governing the school.

Imagine Schools said they removed the local board members as of Feb. 18 and appointed a new board in its place. Scro argued that the nonprofit corporation did not have the power to do that, and that forcing a board member out required a board majority vote.

It gets even muddier because the local board is subleasing school space through Schoolhouse Finance, a real-estate arm of Imagine Schools.

Troubled parent

Imagine Schools' troubles have been well-documented in recent years as some schools struggled academically or financially.

Earlier this month in nearby Pinellas County, the school board moved closer to shutting down a failing Imagine elementary in St. Petersburg. The Imagine school received an “F” on three of the past four years on the state report card.

In other parts of the country, several Imagine schools closed following a St. Louis Post-Dispatch investigation in late 2011 that revealed the company sold its buildings to another company that in turn leased them back to Imagine. Imagine paid high rent using taxpayer money, generating millions of dollars in revenue.

In Sarasota County, the two Imagine schools at North Port and Palmer Ranch have done well academically. Both earned “As” on the 2012 state report cards.

Imagine School at North Port has stood out with its rapid growth in Sarasota County. Founded in 2008 with 514 students, the school has since doubled in size. About 1,100 students attend, making it the county's largest charter school. Second is Sarasota Military Academy, with about 965 students.

North Port officials held a groundbreaking ceremony this week for a $1.8 million building with classrooms and a gymnasium near the upper campus off Toledo Blade Boulevard.